Scientists discover how traditional Chinese herbal medicine is able to cure cancer

Scientists have discovered how certain plant compounds found in traditional Chinese medicine can kill cancer cells.

Compound kushen injection (CKI) has been approved in China to treat various forms of cancer, usually as an addition to Western chemotherapy. However, it has been a mystery as to how it actually works.

“Most Traditional Chinese Medicine are based on hundreds or thousands of years of experience with their use in China,” said professor David Adelson, Director of the Zhendong Australia China Centre for the Molecular Basis of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

According to the study carried out by researchers at University of Adelaide in Australia, CKI can alter genes that regulate the cell cycle of division and death. By doing so, it can lead cancerous cells to their death.

“Most Traditional Chinese Medicine are based on hundreds or thousands of years of experience with their use in China,” said professor David Adelson, Director of the Zhendong Australia China Centre for the Molecular Basis of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Compound kushen injection is composed of queous extracts from the roots of Kushen (Radix Sophorae Flavescentis) and Baituling (Rhizoma Smilacis Glabrae). Similar to other traditional Chinese medicine, individual compounds of CKI don’t have much effect on their own. It is only when they are combined together, it can be used to treat various kinds of diseases.

The scientists used high-throughput next generation sequencing technologies to identify the genes and biological pathways targeted by CKI. The study carried out by applying CKI to breast cancer cells grown in the laboratory.

Adelson says that this technique can be used to analyse the molecular structures of other Chinese medicines and could potentially be incorporated into western medicine.